They range from cures for terminal illnesses to conceiving after years of infertility. “It’s way beyond science and technology,” he says. CNN has not independently verified the content of the videos.
Most views on YouTube
Broadcasts on the New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations (NSPPD) channel have propelled Eze to become one of the most popular preachers on YouTube. With more than 90,000 peak concurrent viewers, Eze’s daily shows rank among the most streamed worldwide on YouTube, according to analytics website Playboard, which aggregates data for YouTube channels. The YouTube platform also ranks second among the gospel channels with the most live viewers globally – behind Brazilian preacher Bruno Leonardo, Playboard data shows. Eze also collects large amounts of donations from his shows. He is one of the highest-paid YouTube evangelists who leverages the platform’s Super Chat donations that help creators earn revenue. YouTube’s Super Chat feature allows viewers to pin their comments on live streams for a fee ranging from $1 to $500. Eze’s YouTube channel receives one of the highest Super Chat donations in the world, according to Playboard. Among his ardent fans is award-winning Nigerian singer D’banj, who tells CNN that attending Eze’s morning prayers has become routine. “Waking up everyday with NSPPD… has become part of my daily routine. I hardly miss it. It’s part of my family’s morning devotion,” adds D’banj, whose real name is Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo. The singer says he’s had his own miracles from platform prayers. “I remember last year Pastor Jerry said we should write down seven things we want to see happen, and we prayed and I believed. I checked the list the other day and…all seven have been answered.” Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh says she was also linked to Eze’s ministry early last year. Now she’s “addicted,” she tells CNN.
A poverty stricken background
Eze, who turns 40 on Monday, has come a long way from the days when he and his single mother struggled to find food to eat. “I come from a family where poor people will describe my family as poor,” he says. “There were days when my mom and I had no food to eat, and my mom would hold my hand and pray and thank God. My mom was a single parent and a petty trader who sold peanuts in the market… There were days when she would come home weeping, since he had made no sale, so he could not buy us anything to eat.’ Born on August 22, 1982, in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, Eze tells CNN that his education was sponsored by a benevolent couple who had noticed his active commitment to a church in his early years. “I just did things at church, like sweeping and singing and reading the Bible — doing what most of my friends didn’t want to do. I had just finished high school at the time before they gave me away,” she says. of the couple. Eze excelled in his studies and obtained a degree in history and international relations from Abia State University. He also completed a master’s degree in human resource management. Before assuming the ministry, Eze previously worked with a local television station before joining the World Bank’s HIV/AIDS program and later worked as a communications specialist with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). “I was very excited about the job (at UNFPA) but my mom was not. She said it was not what God told her. According to her, God told her I will become a preacher,” says Eze. “I never shared those aspirations (to become a preacher). I didn’t even listen to her. She and I lived in poverty, so I always asked why God didn’t help us out of poverty first before He asked me to leave a job that she was giving us money to be preachers. The money I was giving her was coming from the work (with the UN), so it didn’t make sense.” He eventually quit his job and began full-time ministry, but unfortunately his mother died of heart failure before she could fulfill her ambition for him, he says. “It was when he died that the reality of my mission began to dawn,” he adds. Entering full-time ministry has come with huge sacrifices, and Eze says he spends long hours praying late into the night to prepare. “I don’t have friends, I don’t hang out, I don’t have free time. I can’t tell what my hobbies are anymore because there’s no room for hobbies,” she says. Eze has two children with his wife Eno who is also a pastor. He said his marriage was not perfect because of the demands of the ministry. “It wasn’t 100 percent, but because my wife and I do the same thing (ministry), we bond in the same way. Things that matter to others don’t matter in our family. Our conversations are about ministry and how then will we fulfill God’s will for our lives. If I had married the wrong woman, I would have been bored.”
A random rumor
Eze may have become an internet phenomenon, but he insists his fame is accidental. He had begun live streaming in hopes of inspiring his congregation when the pandemic shut down all church services and attendance at his fledgling ministry, Streams of Joy International, dwindled. “It wasn’t a goal to reach the world,” says Eze. “During the (peak of) Covid, there was a palpable fear everywhere and I noticed that many of the people in the church were very afraid to come around the church. So every morning, my wife and I will come online, encouraging people,” he tells CNN. “I just wanted to talk about hope,” she adds. Eze’s daily messages of encouragement later turned into a daily online prayer network every weekday on YouTube and other video sharing services. The live streams proved a hit, and now in its third year, Eze’s YouTube channel has 880,000 subscribers as of this publication, and his shows have garnered more than 122 million views over a three-year period, according to figures from his channel. Viewers from the UK and US together make up 25% of his live streams on YouTube, with more than one million views from the UK and more than 700,000 views from the US between July 20 and August 16, 2022, according to elements from the platform. Nigeria has the highest with over two million viewers. His shows are also shown in other African nations and countries such as Italy, Germany, Canada, France, Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands, the chart showed. Digital analyst Edward Israel-Ayide tells CNN that Eze’s success can be linked to the “recent explosion in digital churches and online religious movements.” Israel-Ayide says this is due to the effects of Covid-19. “With lockdown restrictions in place, the need for community and a sense of belonging has pushed Nigerians at home and abroad to seek digital platforms that could give them direction and hope,” he says. “Post-Covid, many people are still searching for purpose and direction due to the socio-economic challenges brought about by Covid-19 and the ongoing global financial crisis. This is one of the main reasons why religious movements like Pastor Jerry Eze’s NSPPD are thriving .” While many people now know him because of his online platform, “he didn’t start there,” says Eze. “There was a physical church before the online church.” Eze founded the Streams of Joy International church in the suburbs of the eastern city of Umuahia, Nigeria many years before he became famous. Eze is now based in Nigeria’s capital Abuja and his church has expanded beyond Nigeria to include branches in the UK, USA and Canada. Attendance at his church in Abuja has also increased. But with the online community it has gained the most traction and is here to stay. “People all over the world are used to waking up and finding Pastor Jerry online,” says Eze. “It’s like a virus that’s here to stay.”
